Profile
Rhea Alexander is an Associate Professor of Strategic Design and management at the School of Design Strategies (SDS), Director and founder of The Parsons Elab, Co-Director of Impact Entrepreneurship Initiative (IEI), Co-Chair of TNS Faculty Senate, who has previously served as Assoc. Director for the undergraduate BBA Strategic Design and Management Program (2020) and Co-director for the MS Strategic Design and Management program (2016-18). She is an affiliate faculty at the Platform Cooperativism Consortium. As an educator, she has developed a unique approach that combines theory, practice, and project-based learning. She encourages students to use design as a tool for positive change. One of Alexander's most notable contributions is her work in strategic design education at Parsons School of Design. She has been a leading voice in promoting design strategies as a tool for solving complex problems. Through her teaching, she has helped countless students develop the skills needed to approach design challenges from a holistic systems perspective, considering their solutions' economic, social, and environmental impacts. In addition, her teaching philosophy emphasizes the importance of empowering students to become active participants in their learning rather than passive recipients of information. More so, her advocacy for design-driven methods has helped shape Parsons's leadership in reimagining entrepreneurship education. In addition to her work in education, she has used her platforms to highlight the importance of equitable design practices, co-creating with marginalized communities, and promoting design practices that reduce harmful environmental conditions and bias. Before her faculty appointment, Rhea was a multidisciplinary design consultant who practiced architecture and product design. She became an award-winning impact entrepreneur in the lifestyle sector, working with artisans using sustainable practices. She founded D.I.G.S. (Duchamp's Irreverent Guiding Spirit, inc.), an award-winning wholesale design company in (1991), D.I.G.S. Consulting Agency in (1995), D.I.G.S. E-commerce (2000) For over 20 yrs; her clients included many top retailers and museum stores such as Barney's, Lane Crawford, MoMA Store, and lifestyle brands such as Mandarin Oriental, and Restoration Hardware. With her experience pioneering design-driven triple-bottom-line values, she has consulted for NGOs in the international economic development sector and USAid, working with SMEs and artisans in over 16 countries. Her work has taken her from Nicaragua to Tanzania, Morocco to Vietnam, and beyond. In 2022, she co-founded MakeOurFuture.coop, a global consulting cooperative helping organizations transition to more equitable practices while reimagining the agency model for transparency and pay parity. Currently, Rhea is a board member of the NYCIC, focusing on creating pathways for underserved entrepreneurs, and actively supports Women in Innovation (WIN), a community working to break down barriers and design better futures. As the founder and director of Parsons Elab, Alexander created an innovative interdisciplinary space where external partners, students, faculty, and alums can collaborate on entrepreneurship initiatives exploring the intersection of design, technology, equity, and business. For over a decade, the Elab has conducted research, published and provided resources, developed incubator programs, workshops, panel discussions, held conferences, and connected students to the greater innovation ecosystem. It has helped launch successful ventures such as Unfold Stories, Advene, Designity, and more. Through her teaching and mentorship, Alexander has encouraged a new generation of more inclusive and responsible entrepreneurs who leverage design strategies to venture and lead.
In 2023, Alexander spearheaded a team for Routledge, authoring "A Design Driven Guide for Entrepreneurs: Strategies for Starting Up in a Multiverse." It offers a practical guide for budding entrepreneurs who integrate design strategies into their startup process to create more just and verdant organizations and communities. She regularly shares her research at conferences, and her latest artwork will be exhibited summer of 2025 at the North Beach Council in Sydney, Australia.
Degrees Held
Rhea received a BFA in Environmental Design from Parsons School of Design and an MA in Media Studies from The New School.
Professional Affiliation
NYC Innovation Collective, The National Arts Club, Women in Innovation (WIN)
Recent Publications
AI: Friend or Foe for Female-Identifying Founders, 2024, DMI Academic Confernece Proceedings [ISSN: 26400-4702] Co-Authors Rhea Alexander and Laura Martinez
A Design-Driven Guide for Entrepreneurs: Strategies for Starting Up in a Multiverse, 2023, Routledge, [ISBN: 978-1-032-12994] Co-Authors Rhea Alexander, Rose Pember, Joseph Press, and Kiely Sweatt https://www.routledge.com/A-Design-Driven-Guide-for-Entrepreneurs-Strategies-for-Starting-up-in-a/Alexander-Pember-Sweatt-Press/p/book/9781032129945
The Six Dimensions of Online Learning Experiences, 2021 Rhea Alexander and Darcy Keester, Research Article (pg 121-144) In Experience: Implikationen für Mensch, Gesellschaft und Politik. Festschrift für Wolfgang Leidhold Edited by Claudius Mandel, Philipp Thimm, Konighausen & Neumann, 2021 ISBN978-3-8260-7122-5 https://verlag.koenigshausen-neumann.de/product/9783826071225-experience/
Breaking Boundaries: A Unique Inter-University Program Addressing the 21st Century Skills Gap,
2019 Co-authored by Rhea Alexander, Matthew Stewart and Shane Snipes https://www.academia.edu/40757691/Breaking_Boundaries_A_Unique_Inter-University_Program_Addressing_the_21st_Century_Skills_Gap
Managing Vulnerability and Uncertainty: Building designerly ways of doing within non-designer, 2019 teams, 2019 https://www.academia.edu/40757689/Managing_Vulnerability_and_Uncertainty_Developing_design_competencies_within_an_American_healthcare_non_profit_20191027_111886_1iiogdk Co- Authors: Rhea ALexander, Sarah Jones and Vinay Kumar Mysore
Strategic Design and the Future of Work-and-Wellness, Taylor and Francis, 2019 https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/t2K99IfB52yfQ3xNynfp/full?target=10.1080%2F24735132.2019.1584024& Co-authors Rhea Alexander and Aaron Fry
Future Pathways for Design-Driven Entrepreneurship Education Future Pathways for Design-Driven Entrepreneurship Education (pp 365-378) 2018
Practice What We Teach, Journal of 21st Century Education, 2016, [ISSN 2330 1236] Co-authors Rhea Alexander and Aaron Fry
Design-entrepreneurship in the post-recession economy: Parsons ELab, a Design School Incubator, Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Diseño y Comunicación Nº 64, 2016 [ISSN: 1668-0227] Co-authors Rhea Alexander, Aaron Fry and Samar Ladhib
Research Interests
Design-driven impact entrepreneurship, new business models, sustainability, social justice, and education focusing on participatory design methods.
Awards And Honors
Nominated for the Distinguished Teaching Award, 2022-23